Curtain rail



April 21, K. BRAfscHi 3 7,

- CURTAIN RAIL F iled Jan. 29, 1968 1 as an" A W I K I/ EC 12 18 INVENTOR 1 Konrad Brafschi .iyflizhael $.Strl'k0r his ATTORNEy United States Patent US. Cl. 160345 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An elongated rail member is provided with three interior channels extending in parallelism. One of the channels is connected by a slot with the exterior as well as by two additional slots with the remaining two channels. An endless pliable drawing element is received in the remaining two channels for longitudinal movement therewithin. A slider comprises a first section located in the one channel for sliding movement therein, and a second section carried by the first section and projecting into one of the other channels wherein it embraces the drawing element for sliding movement relative thereto. Connecting means is associated with the slider and at the will of the user can fixedly but releasably connect the second section to the drawing element at selected longitudinally spaced portions of the latter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to curtain rails in general, and more particularly to curtain rails of the type employing a pliable drawing element.

It is known to provide curtain rails wherein suitable sliding members are mounted for longitudinal sliding movement in the rail, and a pliable drawing element is provided for effecting such sliding movement. The curtain or curtains are connected in suitable manner with the drawing element, for instance by being secured to the sliders, and longitudinal movement of the drawing element in the curtain rail therefore causes movement of the curtain or curtains. Thus, the curtains can be opened or closed.

In conventional curtain rail arrangements of this type it is necessary that the exact length of movement which is to be performed by the curtain, and therefore by the drawing element, must be predetermined when the curtain rail arrangement is manufactured. This is particularly true in the case of curtains consisting of two or more panels, for instance curtains where the panels are arranged in pairs which move toward and away from one another as the curtain is to be closed or opened. In such arrangements the center of the opening which results when the associated panels of each pair are moved apart must be exactly predetermined, and it is of course necessary that the provision of the slider elements which are secured to the drawing element and are moved by the same, must be similarly predetermined. Especially where one of the slider elements is employed for connecting the ends of the pliable drawing element so that the same forms an endless loop, this is very disadvantageous because the drawing element is subject to stretching over a period of time so that the center of the opening between the two panels of the pair of curtains will move towards one or the other side of its original position so that the slider elements associated with the drawing element, and accordingly the two panels of the pair of curtains, will no longer be arranged symmetrically with reference to the window. To effect requisite adjustment it is necessary in conventional arrangements of this type to dismantle the entire device.

3,507,317 Patented Apr. 21, 1970 ice It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a curtain rail arrangement which is not subject to the aforementioned disadvantages.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a curtain rail arrangement wherein compensation for shifting of the aforementioned center can be made. in a simple and advantageous manner without requiring disassembly of the arrangement.

It is an additional object of the invention to provide a curtain rail arrangement of this type wherein the crosssectional dimensions of the rail member are kept to a minimum.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one feature of my invention I pro vide a curtain rail of the type under discussion, which comprises an elongated rail member having a longitudinally extending wall portion provided with a first and a pair of second interior channels which extend in at least substantial parallelism with one another. At least the second channels have opposite open ends. An elongated first slot is provided in the wall portion and connects the first channel with the exterior, and a pair of elongated second slots respectively connect the first channel with the second channels. An endless pliable drawing element is received in the second channels for longitudinal movement therewithin. Slider means is adapted to be connected to a curtain and comprises a first section which is located in the first channel for sliding movement therein, and a second section which is carried by the first section and which projects into one of the second channels wherein it embraces the drawing element for sliding movement relative thereto. Connecting means is associated with the slider means and is operative for fixedly but releasably connecting the second section of the slider means to the drawing element at selected longitudinally spaced portions of the latter.

It will be seen that, whenever a shifting of the center of the opening occurs, the necessary correction can be accomplished in a simple manner merely by releasing the connecting means so that the slider means can be shifted along the drawing element to the necessary extent, whereupon the connecting means again connects the second section of the slider means to the drawing element.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top-plan view of a curtain rail embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of FIG. 1 as seen in the direction of the arrow associated with that figure;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section through the curtain rail illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and on an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section taken on the lines IVIV and IVa-IVa of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, and firstly FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen that I provide an elongated rail member 1 in form of a hollow profile which may, but need not, consist of two or more parts. As the transverse cross-section of FIG. 3 more clearly illustrates, the

profile 1 provided with a longitudinally extending first channel 2 as well as two additional channels 3 and 4 which extend in substantial parallelism with channel 2. In the illustrated embodiment the channels 3 and 4 are of circular cross-section. At least the channels 3 and 4 are open at their opposite ends so that an elongated pliable drawing element 5, which may be in form of a braided cord or other suitable member, can be so looped that it extends from the channel 3 into the channel 4. The op posite ends of the drawing element 5 are connected in a manner which will be described in more detail later, so as to constitute the member 5 as an endless looped drawing element.

The first channel 2 is provided with an elongated slot 6 which connects the channel 2 with the exterior of the rail 1, and additional elongated slots 7 and 8 respectively connect the channel 2 with the channels 3 and 4. It is to be noted that the channel 3 extends in parallelism with the channel 2 above the latter, that is at that side of the channel 2 which is opposite the slot 6, whereas the channel 4 extends in parallelism with the channel 2 laterally thereof, that is intermediate the slot 6 and the slot 7. The reason for this is to decrease the cross-section of the rail 1 which obviously would have to be larger if all channels are to be located substantially in a common plane.

The rail 1 is further provided with a hollow profiled section 10 whose cross-sectional configuration may be polygonal and in the illustrated embodiment resembles an upright rectangle. It will be noted that this section 10, which is located above the wall portion 9 bounding the channel 4, has an open slit 11 so that its cross-section essentially is in the shape of the letter C with two longitudinally extending edge portions 12 projecting towards one another and bounding the slit 11. The wall portion 13 located opposite the slit 11 is connected with the wall portion 14 bounding the channel 3, and the wall portion 14 with a front wall portion 15 the upper part of which will normally abut against the ceiling of a room to thereby conceal the remainder of the rail from view, whereas the lower part of the wall portion 15 bounds that side of the first channel 2 which is located opposite the slot 8.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show that the parts of the rail are arranged in longitudinal abutment and are secured by bridging members 16 and 17. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the bridging member 16 is located within the rail section 10 and is of such size as to abut against the interior of the edge portions 12, whereas the bridging member 17 is located exteriorly of the section 10 and also abuts against the edge portions 12. Suitable connecting means, such as a screw or screws 18, draw the bridging members 16 and 17 to one another and into abutting engagement with the edge portions 12. FIG. 2 indicates that in the illustrated embodiment the bridging member 17 is provided with enlargements 19 with which it externally abuts against the edge portions 12 Whereas end portions 20 and an intermediate portion 21 which is located between the enlargements 19 are positioned in the slit 11 intermediate the edge portions 12 and in engagement therewith so as to provide for proper longitudinal alignment of the parts of the rail member 1. This is of course necessary to assure that the channels 2, 3 and 4 in the individual parts of the rail member 1 are properly aligned with one another.

The right-hand side of FIG. 4 illustrates how the end portions of the drawing member 5 are connected with one another. For this purpose the two end portions, which are identified with reference numeral 25, are joined by means of a glider 26 which is located in the first channel 2 and provided with two projections 27 which extend through the slot 8 into the channel 4 Where they are suitably secured to the end portions 25. This is already known and for this purpose the end portions may be stiffened and the projections 27 may pierce the thus-stiffened end portions 25 as is illustrated in FIG. 4. As already indicated earlier the drawing element 5 is looped from the channel 3 into the channel 4 at the open ends of these channels. For this purpose there is provided a reversing member 36 of known construction which efiects looping of the drawing element 5 from the channel 3 into the channel 4 or, of course, from the channel 4 into the channel 3. At the other open ends of these channels there is provided a second reversing member 36a by means of which the drawing element 5 is guided downwardly away from the rail 1 to a location where it may be gripped by the operator.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, a slider 28, which preferably but not necessarily consists of synthetic plastic material, is arranged for sliding movement in the channel 2. A portion 29 in form of a longitudinally slotted-cylindrical sleeve, extends through the slot 7 into the channel 3 where it embraces the drawing element 5 so that it can slide in the channel 3 with reference to the drawing element 5. As is most clearly illustrated in FIG. 4, the slider 28 further comprises two pairs of projections or fingers-30 which project downwardly through the slot 6 and out of the rail 1. These pairs of fingers 30 are longitudinally spaced from one another, as will be seen in FIG. 4. They are slightly resilient and are each provided with two vertically spaced grooves 34 and 35. A connecting element is provided for connecting the slider 28 to the drawing element 5 at the will of the user. This connecting element in the illustrated embodiment is constituted by a substantially U-shaped member 31, which may consist of wire, and whose arms 33 have pointed ends so that, when they are extended through bores provided in the slider 28, they may extend into the portion 29 and pierce the drawing element 5 therewithin. In this manher the slider 28 is releasa-bly connected to the drawing element 5, and in this operative position the bight 32 of the member 31 is gripped between the fingers 39 in the groove 34. To provide for adjustment of the slider 28 in longitudinal direction of the rail 1, one has to compensate for the off-center position which sooner or later develops as discussed in the introductory part of this specification, the member 31 is simply withdrawn until the bight 32 thereof is located in the groove 35. Now the slider 28 can be moved longitudinally of the channel 2 until the desired location is reached, and then the member 31 is again caused to pierce the drawing element 5 in the manner described above. It will be clear that this adjustment is extremely simple and can be performed without re quiring disassembly of any portion of the novel arrangement.

The cross-sectional construction of the rail 1, evident from FIG. 2, wherein the channels 3 and 4 are grouped about the. channel 2 in the illustrated manner, and wherein the profiled portion 10 is located above the channel 4, permits any desired or necessary bending of the rail 1 in a horizontal direction because of the relatively narrow cross-sectional dimension in this direction, whereas bendmg of the rail 1 transversely of this direction, that is vertically, is resisted. This makes it possibleto install the rail with the help of only a very few holding members which may be spaced relatively far apart because the rail is sufiiciently rigid in itself not to require such support at close intervals.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a curtain rail, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapted it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. A curtain rail, comprising in combination, an elongated rail member having a longitudinally extending wall portion provided with a first and a pair of second interior channels extending in at least substantial parallelism with one another, said first channel and one of said second channels being located in a common axial plane and said first channel and the other of said second channels being located in another common axial plane which intersects said one plane transversely thereto, at least said second channels having opposite open ends; an elongated first slot in said wall portion connecting said first channel with the exterior and a pair of elongated second slots respectively connecting said first channel with said second channels; an endless pliable drawing element received in said second channels for longitudinal movement therewithin; a slider means adapted to be connected to a curtain and comprising a first section located in said first channel for sliding movement therein, and a second section carried by said first section and projecting into one of said second channels, said second section embracing said drawing element for sliding movement relative thereto; and connecting means associated with said slider means and operative for fixedly but releasably connecting said second section to said drawing element at longitudinally spaced portions of the latter, said connecting means including a connecting member supported by said slider means for movement between an operative position in which it engages said drawing element and fixedly connects the same and said second section, and an inoperative position in which it is withdrawn from engagement with said drawing element.

2. A curtain rail as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting member is of substantially U-shaped configuration and comprises a bight portion and two arm portions; and wherein said slider means is provided with a pair of bores through which said arms can penetrate into said drawing element in said operative position, and with at least two cooperating clamping projections accessible at the exterior of said rail member and adapted to clampingly engage said bight portion in said operative and inoperative positions of said connecting member.

3. A curtain rail as defined in claim 1, wherein one of said second channels is provided at a side of said first channel which is opposite said first slot, and wherein the other of said second channels extends in parallelism with said first channel intermediate said first slot and said one second channel.

4. A curtain rail as defined in claim 3; said rail member further comprising an additional wall portion defining a substantially C-shaped profiled rail section extending along and at least in part bounding said second interior channels, said C-shaped rail section having an elongated slit bounded by two longitudinally extending edge portions projecting towards one another.

5. A curtain rail as defined in claim 4, wherein said rail member consists of at least two parts arranged in lon gitudinally abutting relationship; and further comprising securing means securing said parts to one another in such longitudinally abutting relationship.

6. A curtain rail as defined in claim 5, wherein said securing means comprises a pair of bridging members overlapping the abutting end portions of said parts, one of said bridging members being located within and the other of said bridging members being located without said C-shaped profiled rail section and both of said bridging members being wider than said slit, and means connecting said bridging members to one another and pressing the same into engagement with said edge portions of said profiled rail section.

7. A curtain rail as defined in claim 6, wherein a predetermined one of said bridging members comprises aligning portions cooperating with said edge portions of said profiled rail section and operative for aligning said parts with one another.

8. A curtain rail as defined in claim 7, wherein said predetermined one bridging member is said other bridging member, and wherein said aligning portions thereof extend into said slit and engage said edge portions bounding the same.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 940,770 11/ 1909 Wulff 16-94 1,855,036 4/1932 Vroom 160-345 1,942,712 1/1934 Kirsch 160-345 2,786,522 3/1957 Weber 160-345 3,098,520 7/1963 Greenstadt et a1 160-346 3,129,751 4/1964 Weber 160-345 3,151,666 10/1964 Ford 160-346 3,157,907 11/1964 Stall 160-345 X 3,248,749 5/ 1966 Williams 160-345 X 3,273,197 9/1966 Ford 160-345 X FOREIGN PATENTS 742,126 12/ 1955 Great Britain.

DAVID J. WLLLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner P. C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 16-872, 93, 

